1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for backing up data. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for backing up and recovering data that includes active applications and operating systems.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Computer networks have become an integral part of modern life. The Internet is ubiquitous in both homes and corporate networks. Many corporate entities also use local area networks (LANs) within their own organizations in addition to providing consumers with access to some data over the Internet.
Because of the dependence on computer networks and on computers themselves, a premium is placed on the availability and reliability of data. For many corporate enterprises, essentially all corporate data is stored on a computer network and access to the data is expected at any time. The demand for uninterrupted access to data corresponds to a need for software and hardware that can meet the demand to provide data and services. At the same time, the demand for access to data and the quantity of data has made it increasingly difficult to protect the data from events such as system failures, viruses, power outages, etc.
In view of these potential problems, it is imperative that the data be protected. This is typically accomplished through the use of software that backs up the data and that recovers the data from the backup copy. As the amount of data continues to increase, backing up and recovering the data becomes more complex. Gigabytes of data cannot currently be quickly transferred from one volume to a backup volume and taking a volume of data offline for backup purposes is an unattractive option.
Backing up large amounts of data, however, is not the only problem related to back up software. It is often necessary to also back up other types of data such as applications and services. However, applications and services often have open files when a backup is initiated. Open files generally cannot be effectively backed up using conventional systems, and are often skipped during backup operations. As a result, additional applications are often needed to help manage backups of open files and to administrate backup logs for files that were skipped during backup.
Operating systems present another challenge to software and systems that back up data. The complexity of operating systems often requires operating systems to be backed up in a logical unit to preserve the state of the system or client. A partial backup of an operating system may result in inconsistencies or system failure if the operating system is restored from a partial or incomplete backup. In other words, backing up the file system itself does not effectively back up the state of the system and may result in errors when recovered. Operating systems are often used with databases or other volumes of data that need to be backed up while preserving the state of the system. In addition, operating systems as well as applications and services are often distributed across computer systems, a fact that complicates an effective backup and recovery of the data.
The desire to provide uninterrupted service combined with increased storage requirements creates the need for systems and methods for backing up data quickly and with minimal interruption to applications and services.